The door swooshed open, and Mancy was there – her eyes filled with angry tears of betrayal. “You stupid git!” She angled at me, ” I stood up for you, tried to protect you!”
Chaz’s quick hand side chop silenced anything further she has to say, as Terrence caught her body, easing her limp unconsciousness gently to the floor. Then, the team surrounded me as we fled through the store with Chaz leading, heading for the side exit.
Escape, first. Questions later.
“I like you better now as a brunette than a blond,” Chaz tossed back at me to get my attention. This snapped me out of being distracted by Mancy, and the team could move more quickly with me focused.
As the side door banged open from Chaz’s force, I could see a helicptor had touched down before us with blades still rotating. I was tossed unceremoniously up into the cargo bay like a lumpy sack ofmiscanieous and the team clambered in to distant sirens approaching quickly while wailing. The pilot took us up into air as we hastily distanced from the building, shouting back to Chaz, “We’ve been monitoring the waves for any activity – glad to have you back with us, buddy!” Chaz clapped him affably on the shoulder and the chopper’s noise muffled his heartfelt return…
Which brings me back to the restaurant years later: how did I come through all of that – to wind up here, until now, with no recollection? From a glance by Chaz, my rediscovered grandparents ushered me back into the kitchen. Chaz played off my reaction to him in front of the Russians as some past known schoolgirl fantasy. “Small world, i guess!” As he ruefully shook his head, and after a pause, considering, they laughed with him at his expense in cajolery
I felt embarrassed and confused as my grandparents tried to shush and divert me. Small world indeed. I had a bone to pick with him about my memory!
Two hours later, rumpled and distraught, Chaz grabs me by themy upler arms and starts firmly shaking me. “I told you to forget about all of that – to forget about me!” Dazed, and in shock, I replied, “Oh yeah? What did you do to my memory?!” He dropped my arms instantly, taking a step back from me. “What do you mean?” He asked warily, eying me as if I had some trick up my sleeve. “I mean, I didn’t remember any of this until just this evening!”
“Impossible!” He said, shaking his head in denial, then looking at me quizzically. “Then why were you at the range, today – watching me?” “You saw me? I thought I was being casual about it. I have no idea why, or how I got there. Just…I was there…and watching you. Like in a dream.” His raked a hand through his short,curled in agitation, looking down – then up at me.
“What the f—…?” His voice trailing off as he absorbed my reply. “Well, stranger things have happened,” he grudgingly reflected. I remembered he was right and blankly nodded, unsure of my standing with him – or in this reality!
***
We arrived on top of an unmarked building, the chopper pilot giving a thumbs up to the team as swung away after we dismounted. Once through the large metal clanking door, we trotted several flights of stairs down and entered through a quieter door into a long corridor. Numbers passed by on fog-glass doors with no other markings. There was no clue as to for whom the team was working.
when we reached the end of the hall, Olivia took my arm, guiding me into the nearest room. “You know she’ll have to be debriefed in ‘Processing.”” Chaz paused, and then nodded his assent as he and the rest of the team returned down the hall to the stairs and disappeared.
+++
“That’s the last thing I can remember,” I stated, squinting as I tried to think clearly. “Sh–!” He muttered. “They must have wiped you, then sent you wandering. They do that sometimes with incidental ‘casualties.'”
“Ok, but how did that get me to watching you – and to here? I countered. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But, I don’t trust it. Someone’s trying to counter my game.”
“But, what if my memory was coming back, and I knew how to find you? What else could anyone have to gain? I clearly mean nothing to you.” He flinched at my remark, which surprised me.
“Listen,” he said earnestly, this time taking me by the arms more gently. “You don’t belong in all of this. You belong somewhere far from here – safe, happy, and Free!” I couldn’t make sense of his words. Everything was just happening so quickly, and his kinder touch threw off my internal balance.
“Let go of me!” And as he did, I backed away hastilly. “Well, where would I go – who would I be? This idea of yours doesn’t seem to have worked the first time!” I leaned backwards against a counter, reached for, and shakily sipped some grown-cold herbal tea.
He gave me a wan smile and quipped, “That’s something I’ve always liked about you: you could always keep up with me.” “Liked,” not “loved” – and there we had it. I’d always cared more for him, than him caring for me. (Get it through your head, girl. Look what not doing so has brought you to. I know, right? Get a life, get a brain – get a new Destiny!)
Suddenly, my posture sagged in weariness. “Can I just be done with this, already?” “I’m sorry, but for the time being, you’ll need to stay here with your grandparents. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble, and we need to make them feel they’re succeeding.”
(Isn’t this cliche?)
I thought about it all for a minute, wanting to break out – just burst through the veil. No matter what normal path I could choose, I would be trapped. There was no love here – and certainly, no future.
“No. I won’t be a pawn in this,” I said as I put down the cup of tea, firmly. I grabbed the coat I’d been wearing earlier, and since I had no money or ID, headed off to find the nearest woman’s shelter.
Chaz didn’t follow me. He seemed surprised I was leaving, and probably thought I’d be back after my “head cooled off.”
Candid Corvid Productions 